Wounded group stories are what we all either carry around or have carried around at some point in our life. As a white English male I am historically and vicariously responsible for the trauma that our political ancestors caused within the world. As an individual I have a story that is mine alone and then I have and am part of a wider story that; which is being white and English and therefore part of the bigger picture. It is this bigger picture that most people refuse to accept as theirs to own as part of the wider problem within the world. The atrocities that were carried out in the name of God and King in earlier centuries is partly mine to own and respond to in a manner that is befitting Kingdom living.

I continue to pray that those in government will see the bigger picture and know that we are collectively responsible for the deeds of yester-century. I am convinced that relationships between different cultures and ethnicities within our country could be better served if we took the time to understand our own past histories. As I have mentioned recently, the land we live in is scarred by the behaviour of its inhabitants. A fact I discovered only last week in Dr Russ Parker’s superb book ‘Healing Wounded Histories’ was that the murder of Jamie Bulger in Liverpool in 1993 was an almost identical murder of a small child in the very same area a hundred years before. No coincidence after you realise that the spirit of the behaviour causes spiritual strongholds over an area. The one thing that can break this repetition of history is to learn how to research the story of our neighbourhoods and country and learn to forgive and receive the apologies of others.

I pray for understanding of grace and mercy for a society that needs the love and forgiveness of a loving and righteous God.